3 July 2017

eEquity invest in Karma, a food rescue app devoted to minimize the food waste in grocery stores and restaurants – targeting European expansion

eEquity, a leading investor in e-commerce and online companies in the Nordics, invest in Karma, the app devoted to help grocery stores, restaurants and cafes minimize their food waste.

Karma’s underlying business plan is to provide an outlet for unsold food from restaurants, cafes and grocery stores an thereby decrease food waste. Consumers purchase the food at a discount directly through the Karma app. Since the launch in November 2016, Karma has established itself in more than 20 cities and has over 100,000 registered users who to date has rescued 17 tonnes of food. Further, Karma has entered into partnerships with the leading Scandinavian hotel groups Scandic Hotels and Nordic Choice, as well as with the Swedish leading restaurant wholesaler Martin & Servera and several ICA grocery stores.

eEquity’s investment will support Karma’s upcoming European expansion. The target is to develop Karma into a market leader within its niche through best-in-class usability, quality and customer satisfaction. The investment is made together with e.Ventures, an international investment company with previous investments including Farfetch, Sonos and the Swedish company Natural Cycles.

”We are very happy with eEquity and e.Venture’s investment in Karma. eEquity’s years of experience within e-commerce and their knowledge on how to build strong, global online brands will provide us with valuable insights which will help us to reach the next level with the company. We have known the eEquity team for quite some time and are impressed with their work in other companies such as Whiteaway, Swiss Clinic and Footway. We are very much looking forward to start working together” says Hjalmar Ståhlberg Nordegren, CEO and co-funder of Karma.

Karma now target a roll-out of the app across several geographies. The number of customers and users has grow substantially and all parties are highly positive to Karma’s user-friendly and digital solution to decrease food-waste, which is a major environmental issue. Grocery stores, restaurants and cafes have all welcomed Karma’s solution and praised the ease-of-use and efficiency of the app, with goods being sold less than 24 hours after posting them in the app.

Felix Erhardt, partner eEquity says - ”We see a substantial potential in Karma; 1/3 of all food produced globally is thrown away which has a devastating impact on the environment. If we can use new technology in a user-friendly way in order to minimize the waste, it will have a significantly positive effect on our planet. Our previous experience of working with companies trying to alter customer behaviour, e.g. e-commerce, shows that it is definitely possible, and with proper execution can happen very quickly. Verticals such as books, contact lenses, white goods and clothes have all been highly exposed to digital change and now time has come for food waste to get digital. We will continue to support Karma with our competence and experience from previous investments and we hope to build a global market leader in this multi-billion-dollar market.”.

Karma is available for download in both App Store for iPhone and Google Play for Android.

About eEquity
eEquity is a leading Private Equity firm investing in Nordic internet and e-commerce companies. The e-commerce companies includes brands such as WhiteAway, Footway, Swap.com, RoyalDesign, Caliroots, Kidsbrandstore and Eleven. eEquity has invested in the online sector since 2010 and has around SEK 1.2 billion under management, in three funds, with a total of 16 portfolio companies. eEquity invests primarily in entrepreneur-led growth companies with potential to become market leaders. The investors behind eEquity are significant European family offices and financial institutions. eEquity is led by Patrik Hedelin and Magnus Wiberg who are both experienced internet entrepreneurs with experience from boo.com and Pricerunner.

About Karma
Karma is a leading online food waste company. The company was founded in 2015 by Hjalmar Ståhlberg Nordegren, Ludvig Berling, Elsa Bernadotte och Mattis Larsson and is headquartered in Stockholm. Karma provides an app-based solution targeted towards minimizing food waste among grocery stores, restaurants and cafes and has during its short time since inception managed to attract more than 100,000 users in over 20 cities across Sweden which have rescued a total of 17 tonnes of food.